


Free Fallin'

by rachelrae



Category: SK8 the Infinity (Anime)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, High School, Jealousy, Joe's POV, M/M, MatchaBlossom, Pining, Slow Burn, Temporarily Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:01:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29900796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rachelrae/pseuds/rachelrae
Summary: When nine year old Nanjo Kojiro meets the young Sakurayashiki Kaoru at the neighborhood skate park, little does he know he has just met the boy he will spend the next 16 years in love with. As the years follow, the two grow closer as they skate, gaining and losing friends along the way.A slow burn fic featuring MatchaBlossom growing up together and falling in love with eventual Langa/Reki.
Relationships: Hasegawa Langa/Kyan Reki, Nanjo Kojiro | Joe/Sakurayashiki Kaoru | Cherry Blossom
Comments: 6
Kudos: 81





	1. The Skate Park

When Nanjo Kojiro was nine, he asked his parents for a pair of roller skates for his birthday and received a skateboard instead.

Never would he correct them, or rather, alert them of this mistake. As long as he could fly faster than he could run; if that was on a board or with a pair of skates was irrelevant to him.

He thanked them profusely and properly ignored the rest of the unopened gifts on the table that he knew would be boring books and clothes from his relatives and ran straight to collect his tennis shoes, his laughing mother following him with his bike helmet under her arm.

The first time he tried to stand on the board, he started with too much force, sending the board flying across the mostly empty parking lot before he even got both feet up.

By the fifth or sixth time, he could stand, arms wavering as he balanced on the board. Kojiro ignored his mothers cries of protest as he took up, crouching low to keep his balance as he pushed himself across the parking lot and down the ramp that led to the lower levels.

Wind filled his ears, drowning out the rest of the world as Kojiro flew, the steady thrum of the board under his feet pulling him ever forward.

His body and mind were light; almost as if he could forget physical beings existed. The world around him became one of flashes and freedom. He let out a whoop of excitement and then promptly crashed head first into a wall.

Even as his gaze spun in circles, Kojiro could not help but smile, brain replaying the short moment of skating over and over.

Again. He would fly again.

It took him another full two weeks of skating in careful circles and busted knees before he finally convinced his mother to bring him to the nearest skatepark. She relented with the promise he would have to wear knee and elbow pads; an embarrassing gesture but one worth entry to the promising ramps and half-pipes.

Kojiro hardly slept the night before, excitement buzzing through him. He got up with the sun, pulling out his favorite shirt - a green pokemon shirt that matched his hair - and went to wake his mother.

The short walk to the skatepark felt longer than ever as Kojiro waited for his mother, picking at the velcro of the elbow pads digging into his arm.

The park was empty, gleaming in the early morning light and Kojiro could hardly contain his excitement, babbling to his mother about all the cool new moves he had thought of last night as her nervous hands tightened his chin strap.

He started with the lowest ramp first, flying away from his mothers outstretched arms. The skatepark was his to explore.

Kojiro tried out his easier move ideas, speed slow, waiting for his mother to relax and take a step further away.

Skating with the knee pads was harder. Every time he bent his knees, the rough fabric scratched the back of his legs, tickling and distracting but he tried his best to ignore it.

As the day wore on, other kids began to show up, blazing around Kojiro on their own boards and skates.

Kojiro had been nervous his inexperience would show, but as he watched the kids around him wobble and crash into each other, his unease faded. He stayed upright, weaving in and around the other young skaters, a smile on his face.

Once the rising sun had pushed his mother away and into the shady trees nearby, Kojiro was finally ready to try his first half-pipe.

He sought out the pipe furthest away, hurriedly climbing up the side to start from the very top. He willed his knees to stop skating as he wiped the sweat out of his eyes, staring down the suddenly much steeper ramp.

Before he could overthink, Kojiro set down his board and lifted his foot.

“You’re doing that wrong.” Came a snotty voice from right behind him.

Kojiro jumped, his board clattering down the pipe without him.

He turned to find a small skater with long pink hair jutting out from under their helmet glaring up at him.

“What?”

The skater - were they a boy or a girl? Kojiro could not tell behind the glasses perched on their nose - snorted. They held up their own board, the bright pink blinding in the light. “That’s not how you should start. You were leaning too far back and would have just fallen when you tried to take off.”

Kojiro felt his cheeks flush. “How would you know I would crash?” He had not even fully finished standing on the board before the other skater had spooked him.

“Your form was all wrong. Looks like you hardly even know how to skate.” Replied the skater snottily.

“And you would know better?” Kojiro bit back.

The skater snorted again. “Of course. I perfected my starting form forever ago.”

Kojiro knew he was tall for his age, but this other skater was tiny. How old was this kid?

“How long have you been skating?”

The pink skater raised their chin definitely, the sun catching on the corner of their glasses, reflecting back. “Two years and three months. What about you?”

“Two weeks.”

At this, the other skater blanched, falling a half step back as the smirk was wiped off their face. “Two weeks?” They copied, voice high. “And you’re already trying the half-pipe? Do you have a death wish?”

Kojiro’s chest puffed out. “Well, I was trying. Until someone interrupted me.” He cast another glance down to his skateboard resting upside down at the bottom of the pipe. “And I could be mastering my form by now.”

The other skater stared up at him, dazed.

Kojiro flushed further, remembering the second question. “And no, I don’t have a death wish.” He pointed a finger to the various padding his mother had strapped him into. “I’m perfectly safe.”

For the first time, he looked for similar padding on the other skater, almost missing them for their lack of bulkiness. Smooth and sleek, the other skater's protective gear sent a bolt of jealousy through Kojiro. It looked much more comfortable than his own. Looked cooler too.

The pink skater shook their head quickly. “Not safe enough.” Their voice lacked it’s earlier bite. Kojiro watched warily as the skater gently placed their board at their feet. “Look, if you’re going to be foolish about this, at least let me help.”

“What?” Kojiro whipped his gaze from the shining board up the flushed face of the other skater.

“I don’t want you to bloody up my favorite ramp.” Came the answering mumble.

“You’re going to teach me how to skate?” Kojiro could hardly believe it.

“But you’re so young!”

The other skater bristled. “I’ll let you know, I’m nine years old.”

“Oh.” Kojiro looked them up and down again. “Me too.”

“Shut up. Do you want my help or not?”

Kojiro paused. Having some tips would definitely help. He could probably get good enough to try out some of the cooler moves he had thought off last night faster too.

“Ok. Sure.”

“Sure?” Growled the other skater, but Kojiro ignored their scowl.

“Kojiro.” He said as he stuck out his hand in greeting.

The other skater froze, eyes darting between the outstretched hand and Kojiro once, twice before their own hand, partially covered in a glove, reached out and grasped his.

“Kaoru.” Came the quiet answer.

“Oh, so you are a boy.” Kajiro spoke without thinking.

“What?” Came the screech from Kaoru.

Kajiro waited, keeping his smile open and easy.

The pink skater shook his head again, cheeks matching his hair.

“Shut up and get your board, idiot.”

“Well that was rude. You shouldn’t insult your friends, Kaoru.”

“What? We are not friends!”

“Of course we are. You said you were going to teach me how to skate.”

“I said I’d help you not die! Not teach you everything I know!”

“Sure, Kaoru. Here, wait a minute. I gotta grab my board.” 

“Shut up!”


	2. Growing Pains

Kojiro is twelve the first time Kaoru falls, or better said, completely wipes out, in front of him.

In the past three years, Kojiro had acquired countless sprains, bruises and abrasions trying to master moves he and Kaoru think up and try to teach each other, but no matter how complicated or difficult their skating had become, Kaoru had always seemed to master the technique without ever truly struggling. Sure, he had fallen or stumbled off his board a few times in the beginning, he was not a skating god (don’t ever let him know that Kojiro had once called him that in a dream), but he had never once had a major fall or accident. 

But then the summer before middle school hits and Kaoru has a growth spurt. And of course, as Kaoru seems to be unable to do anything without beating Kojiro, he does not have any old growth spurt. 

Kojiro left for the first two weeks of the summer to visit his aunt’s family in Tokyo and had come back to find Kaoru had suddenly become taller than him in the first time in their friendship. And not just slightly taller either, Kaoru was embarrassing centimeters taller than him. 

Thankfully, he remained as skinny as ever, if not skinner, so Kojiro was still pretty sure he could beat him in an arm wrestling match. 

Kaoru spends the first five minutes of their reunion teasing him, flaunting around him under the shaded trees next to the skate park. 

“Why, hello there. How’s the air down there?” or “Have you seen my new board? I had to get a longer one to account for, well, I guess you can tell.” circled Kojiro but he held his tongue. At the time, he told himself he was just too angry to come up with a good enough comeback but a small part of him, a part that had been living in the back of his mind ever since he had met Kaoru at the skate park years ago, whispered to him to look closer. Whispered to notice how shockingly thin Kaoru was. Told him to take a closer look at the bags under his eyes and the desperation edging into his taunts. 

“Here.” Kojiro finally interrupted him, thrusting his hand out, pushing the small gift into Kaoru’s chest with a little more strength than he originally intended. 

“What’s this?” Kaoru’s voice had gone soft. Questioning eyes rose to meet his own, the colorful skateboard keychain dangling between his fingers.

“A gift. Just something small from Tokyo. My mom said I should get it for you.” Kojiro tried to ignore the way his voice cracked, fighting his blush and avoiding Kaoru’s gaze. “Let’s just go skating. I’ve been waiting forever to try out this new move I thought of.”

He does not let Kaoru bring up the gift again, successfully distracting him with a rough demonstration of a move he had seen performed at a skate park next to his aunt’s place.

Kaoru pushes past him to try it out, confidence bleeding out of him with every step, and Kojiro nearly looks away at the first part, a sharp feeling invading his senses before he hears the horrible clash of Karou’s arm hitting the pavement.

His arm is broken in three different places. He is not allowed to skate for a whole month.

Kojiro sits with him on the ride to the hospital, holding his worn out board next to Kaoru’s brand new, unscratched and looking completely unused board.

Kojiro spends the next month skating alone, early in the mornings. 

He lies and tells Kaoru he’s not, spending all his afternoons and evenings keeping Kaoru company indoors, wasting away the warm summer evenings watching films and reading comics. 

Only when the lights are out and a movie playing loud in the background does Kaoru begin to tell him the horrors he experienced the two weeks Kojiro was away.

He cries as he recounts how his body suddenly rebelled against him. How his legs hurt so bad he could not, and still sometimes does not sleep. How his center of gravity changed so much he avoided skating the entire time Kojiro was gone, barely able to stay standing on his board. How he’s scared. Will he ever be able to skate again? What if he gets too thin and his legs can’t support him? Are his bones easier to break now too? Would his arm just be the beginning of the end?

Kojiro holds his friend close, learning when to let Kaoru win at a video game when he’s having an especially bad day and how they do not bring up his fears in the daylight. 

It’s a long summer. 

Somehow, the most important topic is avoided or forgotten until the week before school starts.

Kaoru was the one finally brave enough to ask, when the moon was high. They had snuck out one night, just to go lay around the skate park, under the stars.

“Kojiro?” 

Kojiro freezes, something in Kaoru's tone setting off warning bells in his head. Part of him screams to run. The other half tells him to stay and see what Kaoru has to say.

Thankfully, Kaoru continues before he can reach a decision.

“What middle school are you going to?”

Kojiro swallows hard before he speaks. “Just the one down the street. My parents did not want me to have to travel far.” 

The silence stretches between them. 

“And you?” Kojiro practically growls as Kaoru remains still.

Shocked eyes turn to meet his. “Oh. The same.”

Kojiro ignores the dropping feeling in his stomach. “Were you just not going to tell me?”

Kaoru’s brow furrows. “I thought you knew. My mother had asked yours for the recommandation.”

Kojiro had not known that. “So, then why’d you assume I was going somewhere else?”

Kaoru breaks his gaze to look back up at the stars. It’s a minute before he answers.

“I didn’t think I’d get that lucky.”

Kojiro has no answer to that. 

A cool wind washes over them, bringing the promise of the end of summer and the start of their next adventure.

“I’ve heard they have a really cool programming club.” Comes Kaoru’s olive branch.

Kojiro snorts. “Such a nerd.” But he says it with a smile, the whirling in his stomach finally quieting. For just a moment, a fleeting glimpse of something much more, he’s overtaken with the urge to take Kaoru’s hand in his.

He doesn’t move his hand though, thoughts interrupted by Kaoru’s quick laughter as he recounts a joke he had read earlier that day.

Years later he would realize this was the summer he fell in love with Sakurayashiki Kaoru.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next couple of chapters will just be a short overview of the years before Joe and Cherry met Adam and then the plot will really begin! I hope you enjoy young Joe and Cherry!


	3. Middle School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for bullying (specifically homophobia) during this chapter. Please read at your own risk
> 
> Here's the next chapter of the boys in middle school. Up next, high school...and Adam.

**Year 1:**

Kojiro absolutely blooms in middle school. In the first week alone, he makes their teacher and his classmates laugh at his antics, scores the winning homerun in the PE baseball game and get’s the prettiest girl in their class to blush when he smiles at her. He’s finally got his best friend in his class and they can ride their skateboards to school and ride together to the skate park after school everyday. Middle school was perfect.

Middle school was hell for Kaoru. Not that he ever let Kojiro know.

***

“Well, that was pretty gay.” Comes the first biting remark. Kojiro swears it comes from the guy he just ate lunch with. What was his name again?

“What do you expect? He’s practically a girl anyway. Look at that hair. The skateboard. The way he’s always looking after-” 

What? Kojiro closed his locker and stalked around the corner. “Hey, what’s going on here?”

“Speak of the devil....nothing, Kojiro. Don’t worry about that.” It was the same guy! And the other two he had always trailing behind him. And, was that Kaoru? Kojiro’s feet stumbled. Why were his books spread all over the floor? Why was he on the ground? What was going on? The lunch sitting in his stomach soured. Oh god.

“I was speaking to Kaoru.” He barely recognized his own voice. 

Kaoru’s wet eyes met his, pleading. “Drop it, Kojiro. It’s nothing.”

His hands fisted up at his sides. He hardly noticed the frightened looks exchanged amongst the three guys, not taking his eyes away from Kaoru. “This sure as fuck doesn’t look like nothing!”

“An f-bomb, Kojiro? Really? This isn’t that serious.” Kaoru’s laughter was fake, forced. He got to his knees and began gathering up the scattered books. 

His hands were shaking. Kojiro thought he might be sick.

“Kaoru. They were very obvious-” he tried again but is cut off.

“Just. Drop. It.” Kaoru’s tone leaves no room for questioning. It’s terrifying. Kojiro’s heard it when he lectured other kids at the skatepark when they would catch them trying out forgotten cigarettes or picking on the younger kids, but he had never once heard that tone directed at him. 

As if he can sense Kojiro’s internal struggle, Kaoru’s gaze sofens. He moves forward, acting as if the boys surrounding them do not exist and places a warm hand on his shoulder. “Kojiro, please. I can handle myself.” And then he moves past him and is gone.

***

Kojiro has nearly caught up to Kaoru’s skating level now, the two of them ruling over all the other small skate park kids.

Each new trick they think up and perfect earns them cheers and jealous looks, but Kojiro ignores them all, only waiting for the satisfied grin Kaoru gives him when they both get a move down. 

They don’t talk about school at the skatepark. Skating is the only topic Kaoru allows and Kojiro always gets too distracted to remember he wanted to ask why. 

Their days follow a set pattern. School first, then skating before heading to someone's house for dinner and doing homework together. Wake up, do it again. 

Kojiro forgets life could be anything other than this.

**Year 2:**

“I don’t want a pink board anymore.”

They’re at the local skate shop looking for a new board for Kaoru. Kojiro had accidently snapped it last week trying to demonstrate this super cool but actually not that well thought out two board trick he had dreamt up. 

He would have never attempted the trick if he knew Kaoru was going to be this damn difficult. They have been in the shop for over two hours now and Kojiro is beginning to go insane.

Part of him wants to agree, say ok, do anything to get them outside and back to the skate park. There was this really pretty girl who had started hanging out and Kojiro could hardly wait to see her again. Maybe she’d notice him this time.

But at the same time, he still hears the hurt in Kaoru’s voice. The aching, the longing for innocence quickly disappearing. Damn Sakurayashiki Kaoru. 

Kojiro sighes, squares his shoulders and prepares for battle. “Yes you do, Kaoru. Don’t you pull that bullshit with me. I know how much you like ya board matching your hair.”

Kaoru blushes quite brilliantly, confirming Kojiro’s year long suspicions, but he still argues. “That was the old-”

“Oui. Don’t pull that insecure bullshit with me.” Kojiro interrupts him with a scoff, ignoring how his heart clenches at the thought of Kaoru admitting to changing. Admits to how more complex and tiring life was becoming. Admitting and trying to conform.

“Insecure!”

That was a poor word choice on his part. Kojiro cringes at the hurt in Kaoru’s cry. For some reason, an apology is too hard to vocalise, so he says instead: “Nice voice crack there, Ka’” adding enough life into the insult, hoping that somehow Kaoru understands.

There’s silence in the skate shop. Kaoru’s looking at him, mouth set stubborn but eyes damp. His damn pink hair is falling out of his ponytail and Kojiro can hardly concentrate.

Kaoru is the first one to break eye contact, swinging his gaze to the wall of skateboards for sale.

“...Kojiro.” comes his plea, whispered and nearly drowned out by the brawlings rock music playing in the shop.

All thoughts of the skate park girl fade from his thoughts. Kojiro raises a hand to try to rub away the embarrassed flush on his face. “Look,” he finally says. “I just think it’s dumb you’re changing your board based on what other people think. If you like the pink, which you do, keep it. Fuck anyone who says otherwise.”

Shocked eyes come back to him, but he avoids them, already preparing his mental counterargument. 

But it’s not needed. Kaoru’s shoulders fall and he lets out a defeated grunt. “Maybe I still want to change my board. It’s boring.”

Kojiro knows the smile he’s fighting would piss Kaoru off, but he can’t keep it off his face as he scoffs: “I mean, yeah.”

“Hey!” Come’s Kaoru’s protest, but his tone is light, playful. 

Kojiro relaxes back onto the bench he was waiting on. “You’ve had the same board for who knows how many years now. A change would be nice, but you don’t have to give up the pink.” He himself had gone through a handful of designs, always picking whatever seemed coolest at the time his older board reached the point of no-repair.

Karou takes another long glance at the variety of boards offered. “What design could possibly go with pink that's not Hello Kitty or some anime bitch?”

Kojiro lets out a bark of laughter. “Language, Kaoru. No need to disrespect Hello Kitty like that.”

Kaoru’s face flushes. “I’m not putting Hello Kitty on my board you fucker.”

Kojiro does not have the energy or confidence to unpack that statement, so he sadly moves on. “It would match your hair…..here, wait, let’s look at the design book they have.”

They had looked at the book when they had first entered the shop, quickly leafing through it, but even as Kojiro takes the time to turn the pages slower, Kaoru still whines. “I don’t like any of those.”

“Have you even bothered looking?” Kojiro growls back. His stomach rumbles in unison. He needs to get the hell out of this shop.

Kaoru’s avoidance of answering was enough of an answer.

“Come on Ka’. Let’s have a quick look. A real look, yeah?” Kojiro tries, keeping his voice as level as he can.

The silence grows between them, but Kojiro lets it, sneaking glances up at Kaoru’s expressions as he turns page after page. He nearly misses Kaoru’s eye’s flashing and the quiet “Oh.” that follows. He ignores the way his hands shake.

“What? Did you see something you like?” He tears his eyes off Kaoru’s face and down to the latest page of skateboard designs. As much as he wishes he knew Kaoru well enough to know which one of the colored pictures stuck out to him, the photos just blur before Kojiro’s eyes.

“Well, not the color it’s in now.” Kaoru’s answer is vague, but thankfully he points a carefully maintained nail at the upright corner of the page.

Cherries. Drawn artistically, but still. Kojiro would have never even given the design a second glance, but somehow, for Kaoru, cherries work.

“But with pink?” Kojiro asked, mouth working ahead of his brain.

“It could work.” comes his mumbled answer, but there’s a stubbornness gleaming in Kaoru’s eyes. Kojiro knows he’d never admit it, but that Kaoru wanted this design more than anything. Maybe he’d even seen it hours ago when they had first looked at the booklet, but he had not wanted to voice the thought.

A shock of laughter comes out. “Cherries? God, Kaoru. I love you.” Kojiro says without thinking, already moving to pull the page out of the plastic protector.

Kaoru bristles back up, voice rising high. “Hey! I thought you said you wouldn’t make fun of my design!” 

Kojiro is still laughing as he stands, moving to throw an arm around Kaoru’s shoulders and earning himself an elbow to his side instead. “I’m not! Promise. I swear, jeez, stop hitting me. It’s a really cool design.” He protests, still laughing as he pulls Kaoru across the shop to special order the detailing on the base board they had tried out earlier.

“Well, I would change it a bit.” Kaoru’s embarrassed grumble nearly starts Kojiro back up again.

“Of course you would.” His reply is fond.

There’s a beat of emptiness, then “Do you really think pink will still work?”

Kojiro lets out a probably louder than an appropriate inside voice groan. “Well, unless you plan on dying your hair-” This time there’s a well placed kick to his back. “Hey, really, tone down the violence today, Kaoru, I’m fucking kidding!” But despite his protest, they’re both laughing.

***

The sun is high, sweat dripping down Kojiro’s neck and soaking his collar when he first realizes how much space Kaoru has taken up in his daily life.

“You ready to go, Kaoru?” He calls across the courtyard, pushing off the tree behind him and stepping out in the scorching heat.

Kaoru’s surprised eyes are the first slap, followed by “What are you doing here?”

Kojiro’s steps falter. “Waiting for you? Took you forever to get your shoes. What held you up? A girl confess or something?” He tacks on the last part out of desperation. A joke to hide his worry, momentarily forgetting the care he always put into his words around Kaoru.

“What? No!” Kaoru’s blush mixes in with his flush from the heat. He looks almost, angry?

Kojiro is quick to retort. “Jeez, ok. Just a joke, Cherry.” he tries the nickname the younger skate park kids had given Kaoru. 

“Don’t call me that.” Comes Kaoru’s answering growl. Ok. Definitely mad. What did Kojiro do? 

Kaoru’s snappish reply cuts off his thoughts. “Anyway, you should have gone home already. I told you, I have my club.”

Club? Ah, the computer one. “I thought that was just on Monday’s?” He had taken to going to the gym after school those days, burning off the energy he saved for the skate park, but he had done that yesterday, so today made no sense. 

Kaoru calmed a bit, running a hand to wipe at the sweat on his face. “Well, usually, but the teachers agreed to give me access to the room during the week to work on my projects.” Kojiro’s still processing the information when Kaoru contines, quiet and piercing, “I’ll probably be there a lot.”

Later, Kojiro would come to recognize this feeling as heartbreak. But he tries anyway, foolish and naive. “Oh. Well, can I come look? See what you’re working on, oh great man of science?” He can hear the fakeness in his words. 

Kaoru waves a hand lazily, dismissive. “No. You’ll likely break something with that uncontrollable gorilla body of yours.”

There’s a strange lump in the back of Kojiro’s throat he had to swallow before speaking. “Oh. Ok. Well, then, will you be coming to the skatepark after? Should I wait and just go later? I have this really cool idea-”

“No, probably not. Don’t bother waiting up.” And with that, Kaoru turns on his heel and begins walking back towards the school doors, leaving Kojiro behind.

“Kaoru.” comes out in a breathless huff of air, Kojiro nearly folding forward as if Kaoru had physically kicked him in the gut.

“Let me know how the move goes!” Comes the goodbye call, and Kaoru is gone, disappearing back into the school.

The buzz of the summer bugs fills Kojiro’s head as he’s left alone, waiting on no one.

“Oh. Ok, yeah.”

He goes to the skate park alone that Tuesday and promptly face-plants so hard he has a black eye for a week. Kaoru never once asks him what happened.

**Year 3:**

Things reach a breaking point before the first week of their last week of middle school is even over.

Their new literature teacher had paired the two of them together, unaware of the wood she was feeding to the flames.

Kojiro never blamed her for it afterwards, but he did stop by one day after school and requested she never partner them up again.

As much as he hated to admit it, he had started the fight, already mad that Kaoru had conveniently forgotten to tell him about the science camp he had been accepted to til he showed up at the skate park two weeks before school started and found himself alone. 

“Jeez Kaoru. Can’t you write any faster? I have a date waiting on me.” The date part was a lie. He wasn’t sure why he said it. (That was also a lie. He knew exactly why he said it).

“Apologies that I want my writing to be both legible and pretty.” Comes the snotty reply.

The two of them are alone, the last ones remaining as the school days ends and Kojiro wants to go home. Kaoru had been finishing the final copy of their shared book report for over an hour now.

“Pretty? Fuck, Kaoru. This is just a project. No one gives a shit.” He whines, more feelings behind his words than he usually let.

“Well, I do. A properly written kanji can inspire beauty and inspiration in the reader,” Kaoru continues on, aggravated but Kojiro stops listening. 

“Ha. That’s a little fruity.” _Fuck_. He regrets the words the moment they leave his lips.

Kaoru’s hand stops. His voice is icy. “What did you say?”

“Heh? What? Oh, come off, Kaoru. It was just a joke. You and I both know I meant nothing by it.” But Kojiro knows he’s royally fucked up. He prepares himself to get hit, ready to let Kaoru really land one on him, but his fists never come.

“Fuck you.” Kaoru’s voice is hard. He stands up so suddenly it sends his desk jolting and their precious book report flutters down to the floor, forgotten.

He’s moving for the door before Kojiro can finish taking his next breath.

“Hey, wait, Kaoru!” Kojiro does not know what to say but he keeps trying; anything to keep Kaoru from leaving. “Where are you going? Come on, don’t be like that!”

Kaoru pauses in the doorway, sending a fiery glare over his shoulder. “No, Kojiro. I get to be like that. _You_ of all fucking people should get why I get to be like this. Fuck you. Fuck you and your friends; fuck you and your stupid little fan club; fuck you for leaving me behind.” 

His words hurt worse than any injury Kojiro had ever gotten from skating. It shocks him so bad, his control slips.

Which is the reason he stupidly keeps talking. 

“Don’t come at me with this fucking bullshit, Kaoru! I left you? Excuse me? I have tried for the last three years, so hard, to include you in everything I do but you had to go and be a little bitch about anything that didn’t come easy to you. Hell, you couldn’t even take the effort to try to be nice to my friends! Do you know how long I’ve had to make excuses for you? How many times I fought for you? How many times you let me down? No! So fuck you, Kaoru.”

Instead of returning the insults, Kaoru turns, muttering one last exasperated sentence. “God. I wish we never went to school together.”

Kojiro can’t breathe.

***

They do not speak for the rest of the year. 

No matter what their teachers and fellow classmates try, the once inseparable pair of best friends are shattered and struggling without the other by their side. 

Kojiro wished he knew what to say to make things better again, but where would he even begin? Now that he tries to think about it, when did things start going wrong? 

He had noticed the tension building for years, ever since the two had started middle school together. Was Kaoru right? He had been so overjoyed when he found out they were placed in the same class, but had that placement also begun their downfall? All his feelings and memories are caught up in some complicated web he can’t seem to untangle. 

All he knows is he wishes Kaoru would skate with him again. Laugh with him again. Smile at him, again.

(His heart had always beat a little faster when Kaoru smiled).

But as the weeks go by, he does nothing. He remains silent as the truths of the world and growing up threaten to suffocate him. He cries to the dark movie scenes Kaoru had always liked, this time alone and for his own fears. He skates alone, most of the kids at the skate park had already grouped up anyway and he did not fit in. He gets more injuries than ever.

Kojiro's mouth remains firmly shut, all the while his heart calling out into the abyss, hoping Kaoru would understand. But he does not say a word.

Not when Kojiro’s mother gets in a life threatening car crash and he practically lives in the hospital for a week waiting for her to wake up.

Not when Kaoru’s parents suddenly get divorced in a scandal so big that it rocks the entire neighborhood.

Not when Kojiro, drunk for the first time, kisses another boy at a party and spends a week teetering out of control because of it.

Not when Kaoru gets his first boyfriend, nor when they break up a month later, leaving the whole school talking.

Kaoru never shows back up at the skate park. 

Kojiro never works up the courage to ask him which high school he’s going to next year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the angst! I hated having to write the boys like this, but I felt the natural struggles in friendships where part of what led to Joe and Cherry having the relationship they have in Sk8. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments or critics are always greatly appreciated and please don't be afraid to point out any mistakes or misspellings in my work.


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